foodconsumer.org: Baby boomers feeling consequences of obesity as they age

Baby boomers feeling consequences of obesity as they age
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admin on 11/14/2009 18:48:00
 
By Sheilah Downey
Baby boomers are facing more disabilities as they enter their 60s than their
counterparts, a finding that has "significant and sobering implications," said
the researchers.
The "disturbing" development, said study authors, may be due in part to changing
demographics that include significantly higher obesity rates and lower
socioeconomic status among those aged 60 to 69.
"Increases in disability in that group are concerning because it's a big group,"
said principal investigator Teresa Seeman, UCLA professor of medicine and
epidemiology. "These may be people who have longer histories of being overweight
and we may be seeing the consequences of that."
The findings could place heavy burdens on an already stressed and fragile health
care system, said Seeman and colleagues from the David Geffen School of Medicine
at UCLA.
"If this trend continues unchecked, it will put increasing pressure on our
society to take care of these disabled individuals," said Seeman. "This would
just put more of a burden on the health care system to address the higher levels
of these problems."
Researchers found that study participants between the ages of 60 and 69 showed
increases in several types of disabilities over time, while those between the
ages of 70 and 80 and above saw no significant increases in disabilities. In
some cases, the older participants actually exhibited fewer disabilities, said
researchers.
Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from
1988-94 and 1999-2004, the researchers examined how disabilities for three age
groups changed over time. They assessed disability trends for four areas of
basic activities, such as walking, instrumental activities such as doing chores,
mobility and functional limitations, such as stooping or kneeling.
The study focused on trends for the 60 to 69 age group, those born between 1930
and 1944, just before the start of the baby boom. Researchers found that
disabilities among those in their 60s increased between 40 and 70 percent in
each of the trends except functional limitations.
Researchers said the disabilities may be linked to the changing racial and
ethnic makeup of the group that will be reaching its 60s. The most rapid growth,
projected to be among African Americans and Hispanics, are groups with
"significantly higher rates of obesity and lower income levels," according to
the study.
Researchers said that their controls for health status and health behavior do
not completely explain the increase in disability for the 60 to 69 age group.
"We're not sure why these disabilities are going up," said Seeman. "But if this
trend continues, it could have a major impact on us, due to the resources that
will have to be devoted to these people."
The study will be published in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of
Public Health and was funded by the National Institute on Aging.
Study co-authors included Arun Karlamangla and Sharon Merkin, of UCLA's
geriatrics division, and Eileen Crimmins of the Andrus Gerontology Center at the
University of Southern California.